Lott the lobbyist

Lott celebrates his new ability to lobby his friends in the Senate.

In November 2007, when then-Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) announced his retirement from Congress, it was believed that Lott resigned at that time in order to “immunize” himself against a new lobbying law that requires Senators to wait two-years instead of one before lobbying Congress. At the time, Lott said the ban, which took effect in 2008, “didn’t have a big role” in his decision. But yesterday, after his one-year wait was over, he admitted “he had been counting the seconds” until he could lobby his friends in Congress:

“I’m free!” announced former Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi. “My year is up!”

Special interests politics are apparently still in favor with the former Republican leader, who said he had been counting the seconds — quite literally — until the expiration of a 12-month ban on lobbying that he faced throughout 2008 as a former senator.

(Think Progress)